PLEASE publish this letter, which is in response to a Stabroek News story captioned, “PS says ‘threats’ to Amerindian Leaders taken out of context” (Sat, April 26, 2014).

Permit me to state the following:
The Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs (MOAA), Mr. Nigel Dharamlall, is totally correct when he said that the comments he made to Amerindian Leaders and Community Support Officers (CSOs) at the International Convention Centre were taken “out of context”; and moreso the so-called “threats”.
The hundreds of Amerindians gathered at the Convention Centre will definitely agree that the PS’ comments are taken out of “context” as a result of the “leaked” audio recording by an Opposition slave.
The Amerindian communities are currently being misled that their Community Development Plans (CDPs) are projects of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The PS of the MOAA simply informed the Amerindian Leaders and CSOs that this is not so. And that while the CDPs are Amerindian Community Development projects designed by themselves, they are Government projects through the MOAA, funded by the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) of Guyana’s Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
The UNDP is the partner entity of the CDPs working in collaboration and harmony with the MOAA for project implementation, ensuring that its safeguards are upheld.
As a member of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee (MSSC) of Guyana’s LCDS, I fully support the PS that the CDPs are not UNDP’s projects. The PS is reported to have said, “The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) was misleading people with its statements that the Ministry was manipulating the Amerindians,” and that the APA was “in bed with the Opposition”.
I fully agree with the PS, and to add that the APA, like the Opposition, currently holds an Anti-Amerindian Development agenda, which was condemned by the massive Amerindian picketing demonstration outside Public Buildings.
But if the APA was not in bed with the Opposition, why was it not a part of the Amerindian picketing demonstration outside Public Buildings, protesting the unjustified cut of the Amerindian Development Fund (ADF) by the Opposition, which will severely affect the livelihood of Amerindian communities? Neither was a statement issued, including a statement on voting against the LCDS initiatives allocation of $18.5B, which will also severely affect the Amerindian communities of Guyana.
The PS of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs is a Public official firmly committed to the development of the Amerindian communities of Guyana, and welcomes all Amerindians at his office seeking his assistance. In fact, all the staff members of the Ministry of Amerindians Affairs, including the Hon. Minister, are very busy people, dealing on a daily basis with the matters of our First Peoples of over 180 Amerindian communities. Anyone can challenge me on this, including the APA, which has absolutely nothing constructive to say about the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, but to spew hogwash to anti-Government sections of the media.

PETER PERSAUD